PEAK TRANS COMPENDIUM 001
companion piece to the PEAK TRANS podcast
Welcome to the first ever PEAK TRANS Compendium - a companion piece to the PEAK TRANS Podcast, which I relaunched last Friday. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can listen to it here. Also available on Acast & Apple Podcasts.
If you don’t know, the podcast is basically a comedic look into some of the most exhausting trans-related news stories from the week, presented by me - Jen Ives. It’s pretty light and goofy. This compendium though, is a slightly more thoughtful dive into those topics - except not spoken into a microphone, but typed into a computer, using a keyboard. Going forwards, I’ll be posting one of these with all future relates of the podcast.
Part 1: Linehan Returns
It seems as though Graham Linehan is gassing himself up for a big return to Twitter. He has an account on there again, which is set to private for the time being. When I first saw that he was back on the scene, I got a slight tinge of demented joy. For purely selfish reasons, I was excited that the shit-circus was coming back to town, and was excited that we might get to see his unravelling play out again in real time. I didn’t have much of a twitter presence the first time around, but now I might actually get that block I’ve been hankering for. It didn’t take long though, for me to remember just how much harm he is capable of doing to the mental health of young trans people. Twitter will never be a perfect platform, but a Glinner-less twitter experience did actually turn out to be something we all needed.
It’s sort of weird that he wants so badly to come back to Twitter at all. He’s not a man who takes criticism well, and God knows Twitter is where you get it. He’s quite a sensitive person really, and I’m not entirely sure the edgy Twitter-Sphere is good for him. After all, he’s spent so long establishing his own little safe-spaces online, such as his blog and ratty little podcast, it seems a shame to leave them behind now. Having briefly met him in person, I can tell you - he’s a big guy. But his energy (his aura, his vibe) is really, really beta. Like, he’s not physically intimidating. In fact, I might even be tempted to go so far as to refer to him as a “gentle giant” if he wasn’t such a massive knobhead.
More than anything, it’s probably because of JK Rowling’s more recent Twitter adventures. It must have been torturing for him to see her so passionately diss trans women recently, and have to watch on by idly from one of his anonymous burner accounts - doing his best to not give away his presence. It must have been excruciating not to reply to her with “JOANNE! Well done on calling out these porn-sick pervos! Btw, this is Graham. Graham Linehan. You know, writer of Mrs. Brown’s Boys? I’m a writer!!! Just like you!!!”.
Part 2: Texas
You don’t need me to tell you that there was an absolutely awful elementary school shooting in Texas last week. It really broke my heart, if I’m honest with you. I don’t have any hot takes on it really. I mean, what can you say about something like that?
One thing I can weigh in on though, is how disgraceful it is that some conservative talking heads (like Candice Owens) tried to spread the false information that the gunman was actually a disgruntled “trans activist”. The murder of 19 students and 2 others is horrendous, and politicising it in that way is a level of ghoulishness I just can’t even fathom. Transphobia has bored worms into transphobes minds so deeply now that they’ll let themselves believe almost anything if the end goal is to make us look bad.
Its something we are seeing more and more of, actually. After Dave Chappelle was accosted on stage recently, his immediate response was something like “It’s a trans activist”. Again, this was in the immediate aftermath of the stage invasion, and as far as I’m aware - there was no evidence whatsoever to support this. They weren’t wearing a choker or anything. I think though, this probably says something about the psychology of those who make it their full time business to insult, belittle and lie about us. They know, deep down, that what they’re doing is wrong. Dave Chappelle is quick to assume a “trans activist” stormed his stage, because he knows he’s done nothing but misrepresent and insult trans people for 4 Netflix specials, and if one of these hypothetical, trans-activist terrorists did give him a slap in the face, he most probably would understand why. Luckily for him, most trans people are like most…people. Rational, peaceful and kind. Not me, obviously. But most.
Back on the subject of Linehan for a moment - when I met him at the LGB Alliance Conference, the very first thing he said to me as I approached him was: “Oh look, another trans activist”. Of course, I was, but he didn’t actually know that. It made me want to burst out laughing, because I approached him so cordially. I even shook his hand. What do these people actually expect? Did he think I was going to pounce? As I said before - pure beta energy.
Part 3: Icky Gervais
And finally, let’s talk about this new Ricky Gervais special for a bit. It’s an ironic word really - Special - because there’s absolutely fuck all “special” about his material in this one. It treads a lot of the same ground as two-bit open mic edge boys I’ve had the displeasure of coming up with on the circuit over the years. The most offensive thing about Gervais’ jokes are how stale they are, but to be fair to him - I wouldn’t expect him to know, having never come up on the scene himself.
The show is a weak attempt to give the audience a crash course in comedy, but has no pay off to actually make the supposed “irony” of his edge lord gags mean anything. I remember when I was 15 there was a joke book floating around among my friend group, which was called something like “The Most Offensive Joke Book Ever!”. It was packed full of homophobic, racist, misogynist crap (plus a few legit funny yo’momma jokes) and it really does feel like Gervais has just dusted it off, and passed them off as his own, especially when he starts going off about how funny the concept of dead babies is. How did he prepare for his show, by watching Pulp Fiction and watching 2Girls1Cup? Offensive humour can be done well. I’m actually a huge fan of Neil Hamburger, for example, who sometimes says shocking things. But in a way, it feels earned & representative of the bitter archetype he’s parodying. The only character Gervais has brought to the stage is Cunt in a Black Shirt and Sketchers.
There’s a lot being said about the transphobic jokes in Gervais’ new show, and rightly so. It’s one of the more overtly hateful things I’ve seen in some time. But in a weird way, it’s refreshing. He seems to really have a lot of distain for us, and at least he’s being mask-off with it. But the special is also pretty fucking racist at points, too. He’s an equal opportunities offender I guess! Well, unless you’re a straight, rich, white guy like him. They get a free pass, unsurprisingly.
Any allusions that Netflix itself is a trans-inclusive company are pretty much out the window at this point for me. Yes, they made Disclosure. But is it really enough, when you pump out so much vile shit so regularly? It’s a bit like when The Guardian puts out one positive trans story every 3 months - that’s great, but how about stop putting out all the gender critical propaganda every single other day? Your ratios ain’t good.
For me, the most insidious thing about Gervais’ new special is that it’s very clearly a dog-whistle to gender critical campaigners, such as LGB Alliance. It’s not something I would expect an every day civilian to full lock onto, but the language he uses when doing his “women with penises” reads like it was just lifted straight out of Abigail Shrier’s “Irreversible Damage”. Chappelle announced he was “Team Terf” in reference to JK Rowling, and Gervais is similarly announcing that he’s read some truly dog-shit, badly researched books over the lockdown period. I’ve seen some people who know Gervais come out in his defence, insisting that he’s not actually transphobic. I’m sorry, but take it from someone who’s seen enough of it over the past ten or so years - I ain’t buying it. This guy basically worships at the alter of Dawkins - it’s his natural evolution.
In Closing:
Thanks so much for supporting the podcast, and reading this long companion piece. I really would like to continue doing both, and think I have finally worked out a format which is manageable for me. If you’d like to support the podcast you can do so by joining the pattern at www.patreon.com/jenives or by subscribing to this Substack. Also, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to hear me talk about - please do share them in the PEAK TRANS Discord HERE.
See you next time
Jen